Cornelis van Tropp is the second son of Dutch naval star Marton Tropp. His father Marton Tropp was a naval commander who can be described as "great". It happened in 1639

The Battle of Downs Anchorage was Marton Tropp's masterpiece.

After ruining Spain's maritime hegemony, Marton Tropp launched a desperate battle with the powerful British navy in the First Anglo-Dutch War.

At the beginning, Marton Tropp also performed well, defeating the British naval star Robert Blake twice. But when the two met for the third time, Blake used the battle line tactic he invented, thus ending the battle.

This battle took place in February 1653, and was known as the Battle of Portland or the Three-Day Battle. Six months after this naval battle, Marton Tropps

Killed in action at the Battle of Heveningen...

However, the Tropp family's naval career did not end with the death of Marton Tropp. Marton's second son, Cornelis Van Tropp, was promoted from naval captain to naval captain shortly after his father's death.

Major General, he later went to the Baltic Sea and participated in the naval battle of the First Northern War between Poland and Sweden.

When the Dutch East India Company came to the mainland for help due to the Ming Empire's increasing pressure in the Southeast Asia, the first thing that came to the mind of the ruling Chancellor de Witte was this "second-generation famous admiral of the navy, who was always known for his love for fierce battles."

”, so he was appointed commander of the East India Fleet and unified command of all Dutch maritime forces in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean.

In addition, Chancellor de Wit also handed over three of the world's most powerful battleships (the Dutch would not admit that the British Protectorate class was more powerful), the Seventh Provincial Council, the Dutch Provincial Council, and the Zealand Provincial Council.

Cornelis Van Tropp asked the rear admiral to take them to deal with the naval fleet of the Chinese Empire in the east.

Cornelis van Trop was still very confident when he left the mainland of the Netherlands on the Seven Provincial Council.

After all, the Chinese Empire in the East was just a student of the Dutch in terms of navy - their ability to operate soft sailing ships for long distances was taught step by step by Dutch naval officers!

However, when Tropp met Captain David Jones, the captain of the Sealand Council (this battleship was originally deployed in the Mediterranean, so it did not set out with Tropp) in Batavia, his

The confidence to win began to waver a bit.

According to David Jones, if there had been no bombardment of gunboats, the Dutch Navy's advantage over the Ming Navy would indeed be unshakable.

But with the variable of bombarding gunboats, the Dutch Navy's leading position was no longer so secure.

Because the "Bombardment Artillery Revolution" actually happened in the Ming Dynasty Navy!

It was the Ming Navy that first used explosive bombs on battleships, and it was also the Ming shipyard that first started designing bombardment battleships.

Although due to the relatively backward Ming shipbuilding technology, the bombardment gunboats of the Ming Navy were lighter in tonnage and slower in speed, the bombardment guns and shells used by the bombardment guns on these gunboats were no worse than those used by the Dutch fleet!

Therefore, Ming's bombardment battleships are also deadly weapons, and there are so many of them...

It was after considering Davy Jones's opinion that Major General Tropp gave up the idea of ​​relying on inferior troops to fight the enemy in a grand battle, and instead sought opportunities for surprise attacks.

Just after he led his fleet to hide at the mouth of the Klang River for nearly a month, a brisk Dutch warship finally brought him good news.

The Dashun Empire and the Kingdom of Arakan finally reached an alliance, and the latter had dispatched 300 galleys to carry 15,000 Dashun troops to land on Penang and the nearby territory belonging to the Sultan of Kedah.

In the commander's cabin of the Seventh Provincial Council, Tropp once again took out Bruce Van Diemen's personal letter and looked at the date on it - it was sent 6 days ago.

In the letter, Bruce told Tropp that 300 galleys from Arakan had arrived at Port Salim, and that all 15,000 Grand Shun officers and soldiers would be able to board the ships in at most two days.

In other words, the troop transport fleet should have set off four days ago... If everything goes well, it should have arrived in Penang by now.

As long as they can attract the Ming army in the northern part of the Malacca Peninsula, the situation should be relatively favorable for the Netherlands!

Just as he was thinking of this, the voice of one of his adjutants suddenly came from outside the door: "Rear Admiral, Colonel Jones has just boarded the ship and brought an urgent military report!"

"What?" Tropp was stunned, what's going on? The Sealand Provincial Council, which David Jones was riding, was anchored in the anchorage at the mouth of the Klang River... Even if a communication ship came over, it would not

Maybe he crossed the Seventh Provincial Council and reported to the Zeeland Provincial Council!

"Rear Admiral! I'm David!" David Jones's voice has come in. "I just got an urgent report from Johor City... A huge Ming Dynasty fleet is heading south along the eastern coastline of the Malacca Peninsula.

, is likely to enter the strait!"

Tropp couldn't sit still anymore, so he quickly got up and opened the hatch, and saw Davy Jones standing outside sweating profusely.

"Come in!" Tropp invited Davy Jones into the cabin, "How did you get the news?"

"It was the news sent by cavalry from our advisor in Johor, so it was sent to the Sealand Provincial Council first!" As he spoke, David Jones handed the letter to the rear admiral.

Tropp quickly opened the letter, first reading it ten lines at a time, and then reading it carefully again, with a puzzled expression on his face.

"What is a bird boat?" Tropp asked.

"A kind of Ming Dynasty-style hard sailing ship," said David Jones. "The largest bird ship has a deadweight of five to six hundred tons... Because of the use of hard sails, the sail area is limited and the speed is limited.

Very slow. This kind of ship is usually for civilian use, but there are also military models. Most of them are transport ships, and some are equipped with bombardment guns and can be used for naval battles."

"Do you know how big a bombardment gun this bird ship will be mounted on?" Tropp asked.

"The largest bombardment gun installed was about 28 pounds (24 pounds)," David Jones replied, "but then the Chinese had the Yingtianfu class, and they no longer needed the Big Bird ship to act as the main force in naval battles, and the 28-pound gun bombardment

The recoil generated during the attack was too great, which would cause certain damage to the hull of the Big Bird ship. So they replaced the 28-pounder gun with an 18-pounder gun, and also redesigned the gun cabin, making a "Wanshi"

The Big Bird ship can carry 12-14 18-pound bombardment guns."

"It shouldn't be easy for 18-pounders to penetrate the gun bays of the Seven Provincial Councils!" Tropp said, "At least before we use 40-pounders or 36-pounders to smash this big bird ship, their 18-pounders

It’s impossible to penetrate the seven provincial council-level gun bays!”

If the barrels are about the same length, then the penetration ability of the 18-pound cannon should be inferior to that of the 36-pound or 40-pound cannon!

The destructive power of the bombardment cannon has been taken into consideration when designing the Seven Provincial Council-class, so the gun cabin armor has been strengthened so that 18-pound artillery shells cannot penetrate the parliament-class gun cabin at a longer distance.

"Major General," David Jones already understood what Tropp was thinking, "if there is no Yingtianfu class, then we will definitely win!"

"It's impossible..." Tropp said, "The question is just how many ships there are? If I guessed correctly, they should want to land somewhere in the Strait of Malacca! Those bird ships must be carrying many soldiers.

,How is it possible that there is no Yingtianfu-level protection?"

"Major General, should we attack as soon as possible to prevent the Chinese from landing?" David Jones said, "Their army strength is far superior to that of the Sudanese army!"

"No..." Tropp shook his head, "Let's see...if it is really a landing, then we should attack after the landing battle has started. Because the landing is in progress.

The fleet on the mission has no way to carry out effective maneuvers.
Chapter completed!